Meg Wolitzer’s latest book, The Female Persuasion, is available now from Riverhead.

What was the first book you fell in love with?Charlotte’s Web. I sat in my mother’s lap and cried over it. The novel is a beautiful rendering of friendship, and it also has powerful things to offer about creativity and also about mortality (hence the crying-in-my-mother’s-lap part of this story).

Name a classic you feel guilty about never having read?
All of Proust. But life is long, and I am hoping to remedy this by the time my next book is published, if not sooner. So if you ask me this question again, I can say, Well, let me see… I’ve read all of Proust, so that’s not my answer…

What’s the book you reread the most?To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf. She is a master; her language is brilliant, and I learn so much each time I open this novel.

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Is there a book you wish you had written?To the Lighthouse, or else Mrs. Dalloway. It’s hard to imagine, even in my wildest dreams, being groundbreaking in the ways Woolf was, or as much of a stylist, but it’s pleasurable to think about.

What’s the new book you’re most looking forward to?
Gary Shteyngart has a new novel coming out called Lake Success. He is brilliant and hilarious, so I fully expect this novel to be like that too.